News of 2007The mobile arena doesn't see as many megaton announcements as traditional video games, save for real exceptions like last year's acquisition of JAMDAT by Electronic Arts, but 2006 certainly saw several notable movements.

iPhone ComethIn January of 2007, all of the tech eyes in the universe were trained on CES in Las Vegas. Oops. The real party for gadgetheads and tech junkies was actually in San Francisco -- at Macworld. It was a long-rumored announcement, but when Steve Jobs strode onstage for his keynote speech and revealed the iPhone, the Bay Area felt an earthquake from all those jaws hitting the floor at the same time. A device of such elegance and beauty was the instant gotta-have of 2007 and the hype train surrounding it never wavered, even after the iPhone finally launched later that year and there were some legit grumbles about the service. Now, how did this affect mobile gaming? It didn't really -- but it certainly spotlighted how important it is for the hardware to feature intelligent design choices, like user-friendly inputs instead of clunky pads or a phalanx of buttons. Plus, the iPhone used a touch-screen, just like the white-hot Nintendo DS. It hinted at gaming possibilities, even if none actually materialized in 2007.

Square Sequels on MobileFans of Square Enix RPGs around the world were elated when the gaming giant announced that sequels to its beloved Parasite Eve and Final Fantasy IV were on the way. But then Square let the other shoe drop: They were only coming to mobile. Many American gamers cried out for justice, but they failed to realize that in Japan, mobile gaming is not an object of scorn. it's a legit business that rakes in the yen and is enjoyed by millions upon millions of real-deal gamers. Because handsets in North America are not keeping pace with those in Asia, it's quite unlikely that these sequels will come to these shores anytime soon. But for Square to make such a firm commitment to mobile speaks volumes -- gamers just need to listen to what is being said here.

id Mobileid Software and Fountainhead Entertainment weren't exactly new to the mobile scene -- DOOM RPG was a hit and last year's Orcs & Elves was successful enough to warrant a jump to the Nintendo DS. But in the middle of November, id Mobile was announced and gamers that track the movements of John Carmack and the game house he shepherds had to take notice. Formed to create games not only for mobile, but also the DS and PSP, id Mobile is looking forward to working with smaller budgets to develop new IPs and ideas. In an interview with IGN Wireless about the announcement, Carmack said, "We're stuck in this four-year development cycle for our high-end games. Huge projects that takes tens of millions of dollars. We've lost something we used to have in the early days. 'Oh, let's try out these five ideas and see what happens.'" Yes, let's see what happens.

Oberon Buys I-playOberon Media's purchase of I-play may not strike mobile gamers as a big deal, but behind the scenes it certainly was. Oberon is one of the globe's largest casual gaming companies and with the reach of this powerhouse, I-play's games can now reach an even larger audience. Yes, I-play will still focus on mobile, but Oberon's three-screen approach could mean that Fast and the Furious and My Dog could end up on both PC screens and television sets via cable boxes. That kind of wide net approach, making mobile part of a much larger equation, is certainly intriguing and it's will be fun to see what Oberon and I-play do in 2008 to bring such a vision to fruition.

PopCap Games Goes SoloIf you haven't heard of PopCap Games, then you hardly qualify to as a gamer at all. These people are the biggest name in casual gaming right now, thanks to monster hits like Bookworm, Chuzzle, and Zuma. (Oh, and some little game called Bejeweled.) In the past, PopCap licensed out their games to other mobile makers, like Glu and EA, but now the company is taking matters into its own hands. This year, PopCap released both Chuzzle and Bookworm for mobile on their own and the results are fantastic. Look for PopCap to grow even bigger on mobile (and the iPod) in 2008.